Evaluation

Performance day has come! And I really do believe they were the best two performances we've ever done. Almost everything went better then it had before and the few mistakes made were handled in a professional manor. Some of the things that went well would have to firstly be the energy that went into show. The rave scenes regained the energy that lacked after our first rehearsal with Ben, and we were once again able to enter the true care-free world of Manchester in 1989. The energy also allowed us to drive through each scene without any energy being lost, this meant that the audience were able to stay interested. The audience's cheers and laughter definitely demonstrated this and allowed us to appreciate the comedy that we as a cast have aimed to deliver clearly and seem to have achieved.

Being able to relate to the modern setting of the text boosted my understanding of the plot of the play which I believe is important otherwise it is impossible to invest time and character effort into the performance. Because I believe I have a good understanding of the play it also allowed me to deliver a more relatable story to the audience. This of course created an intimate relationship between the audience and myself because we had a common ground to explore.

Despite the performance going better than I had imagined, there were of course some improvements that I would aim to reach when we perform the show in Stratford-Upon-Avon. For example, during the first show I stumbled on my first line, this was strange because I don't usually forget lines and also it was one of the lines I knew more then the rest because it was the first line I had learnt. On top of this, Shakespeare's work is probably the hardest form of text to improvise as I soon realised. In order to improve I will focus more on my cue lines and my own lines as a whole (of course I did this but I will approach the script in more depth and use repetition in order to hopefully create definite 'line memory'). Another down to this was the fact that the stumble shocked me and so in my first performance I found it harder to play around with the scene and act off of a in the moment impulse because I was a bit shaken. Of course I tried my best not to show this but it definitely made me feel less confident throughout the show.

I would also like to spend more time focusing on the group choreography as I feel as though my own performance lacked the precise timing and effortless look that it perhaps did during the casts first rehearsal with Ben. During this, the ensemble choreography needs to be really sleek and done in unison otherwise the individuals that lack timing stand out more and ruin the overall clean effect. This of course is simple enough to fix with a bit of rehearsing.

In conclusion, the entire Shakespeare term has been a success. My understanding of Shakespeare's life and his work has increased. I feel as though through going to watch a modern version of one of Shakespeare's plays and being in a modern version of one of his plays, has played a big part in allowing me to understand and appreciate his creations.

I have also been given the opportunity to understand all the aspects of a performance by meeting the people behind the costumes, lighting and choreography. Normally we do performances to entertain the audience and the actors are rewarded with a round-of-applause, but being a part of a show with everyone has really reminded me of all the other little people that play a huge part in allowing the show to go on. Without those people there would in fact be no show and so it was a great reminder that the end round of applause wasn't just for the actors but for the playwright, director, choreographer, stage manager, and every other person that has any association with the production.

Drive it!

Something we need to improve on is really driving our words throughout the play. One way to do this would be to maintain energy throughout the play and continually throw that energy from one person to the next without letting that energy drop otherwise the loss in energy would replace what's going around. This would be boring for the audience and ruin all our hard work.

One exercise that we've been doing to improve this was to say someones name then say a line from the play in an energised way, then they'd pick someone and say a line etc. If there was a pause or lack of enthusiasm then we'd all have to start again. 

During the first few times we played this we weren't very good but perhaps this was because we had a lack of learning lines. But as the weeks went on, we got progressively better until we could continually do it until being asked to stop. 

It was really nice to notice as a class the improvement we'd made but it was clear that the scene that we needed to focus putting this energy into was the last scene in the play which is also the longest. Because of the length of the last scene it did become difficult to maintain that continual power that drove us through the previous scenes.

Proxemics and movement

Today we focused on the stage and sections of the stage that would be suitable for say a soliloquy or dialogue to be delivered. Together we discovered that the back of the stage was the most suitable place to for a soliloquy to be delivered (when performing on a thrust stage) because all 3 sides of the audience should be able to see the actor. Of course this doesn't always have to be done this way for other effects, but this gave us a basic understanding of a placement in which the audience could have an intimate moment with the actor.

Similarly a character of higher authority or importance might have a stronger presence along any point center stage. This is because we associate the most important things as being in the middle, front or on top of something. By doing this an atmosphere and opinion of the character being played can be implied without words. Of course posture such as standing tall, firm and solid would also indicate status in the same way that leading the body with the belly could imply that the person of importance isn't necessarily nice or mannorful.

Whereas a character of low status or importance might be to the side of the stage and maintain a static placement of themselves compared to the important people who have the authority to move and go as they please.

Another interesting staging for two individuals sharing dialogue would be placing the two actors on a diagonal at any point on the stage. This would allow at least one of the actors faces to be seen by most if not all of the audience. Personally, I think the best two character conversation would take place from one volt to another (the opposite one), this would work with up to four people and would be effective. One of the reasons that this would be effective would be because the staging is a little more complicated then just having a couple of actors talking to one another at arms length (which is both boring and a bit 'too naturalistic'). It's important to keep the staging interesting otherwise the acting can become boring to the audience and then the playwrights work is ruined.

Other things that are important is to not be too static but to also not move too much otherwise it will distract the audience from the dialogue or other important stage actions.